Short term disability

[flaviaaldira]

Hi,
I've been in short term disability due to stress since February 16, 2010. I will be back to work in a week and just found out i am pregnant. I am very scared that they will fire me when i get back because i took this short term disability! Can they do that? And can they fire me even though i am pregnant?
Thanks for your attention.

New mom

 

[cbg]

How long have you worked for the employer? How many employees does the employer have within 75 miles of your location? In the 12 months between February 15, 2009 and February 15, 2010, did you work a minimum of 1,250 hours?

You cannot be fired BECAUSE you are pregnant but you can be fired IN SPITE OF being pregnant. The answers to the questions above will determine whether or not you can be fired because of the time you have recently been off.

 

[flaviaaldira]

I've been working for them since September 2007 and this is the first time that i took any type of leave. The company is a corporate with more than one thousand employees in the 75 mile ratio, maybe more. I am a full time employee working at least 40 hours per week. Totaling around 1920 hours in one year.
I hope this helps more on my situation. Thanks again

 

[cbg]

That being the case, ASSUMING that your condition qualified as a serious health condition under the FMLA statute, you cannot be fired because you took medical leave. You can find the definition of a serious health condition here: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/fmlaen.pdf

However, please be aware that you are entitled to only 12 weeks of protected leave in a 12 month period, and you have used a huge chunk of that already. It's not 12 weeks per condition; it's 12 weeks period. Therefore, depending on how your employer counts the 12 months (there are a number of legal ways to do it) you may or may not have more than a very short time available for maternity leave. Under no circumstances, barring a state law or a legally binding and enforceable contract that specifically says otherwise, is your employer required to provide more than 12 weeks of protected leave per 12 month period. Georgia does not have any such state law.

If your stress-related medical condition does not meet the definition of a serious health condition as defined by the Federal statute, then you do not have any job protection for the most recent leave.